Public Board of Directors papers 27.01.22

As observed by the report the Trust does have incidents of inappropriate behaviour. However, in the national staff survey staff at The Christie report experiencing a better working culture when compared to staff at other NHS Trusts. Our 2020 staff survey score of 8.7 for the domain “Safe Environment – Bullying & Harassment” was significantly better than the national average, the third best of all specialist trusts in the country and the best within all Greater Manchester trusts. Our scores for the specific questions about staff experiencing bullying and harassment from managers and colleagues were also better than the national average. The report observes that some people complaining of bullying were themselves described as bullies by others. We note that of the complaints of bullying made within the R+I Division since 2019 those upheld on investigation relate to allegations against a consultant member of medical staff no longer employed by The Christie. No allegations of bullying against managerial staff have been upheld on investigation. A specific point of error in the report is that the Notice of Awareness issued by Unison in July 2020 regarding lack of leadership was in connection with a specific issue in the estates department. This was responded to thoroughly and resolved by the CEO at the time. It is an error to have included this with the implication that it related to R+I which it did not. In relation to the review team’s recommendations, we can confirm: • A series of staff engagement meetings have been held with all R&I staff • A organisation wide programme of work focused on culture, values and behaviors has commenced and is being taken through the organisation with oversight from the Workforce committee. This will include learning from R&I. • The wording in the Trust’s Positive Working Relationships Policy in relation to the intent of the alleged perpetrator has been amended. • A full partnership review of activities aimed at reducing the occurrence of bullying and harassment is in progress. The relaunching of our Bullying & Harassment Champions is being considered alongside other similar roles in the Trust (FTSU Champions & Health and Wellbeing Buddies). We are also exploring the use of an anonymous reporting tool and plan a full relaunch of our RESPECT campaign. The plan is going to the Workforce Committee in February 2022. No Evidence of Systemic or Widespread Racism The review team reports no evidence of systemic or widespread racism at The Christie. It notes that there are individuals or isolated pockets where some staff perceive that they have been treated differently because of their race or ethnic background. The only specific example cited is an allegation of high turnover of staff from a BAME background in the CCRF during 2019/20 but no analysis of this is provided by the “Rapid Review” team. Our 2020 staff survey data shows that 26.8% of BAME staff at the Christie reported experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from staff in last 12 months. Whilst we recognise that this must be improved the current position is slightly better than the national average of 28.7%. Our overall 2020 staff survey score for Equality and Diversity was 9.4 which was the second highest amongst all specialist trusts nationally and second highest amongst all trusts in Greater Manchester. Of the recommendations in this section (3.3.1), we can confirm that: • We use the WRES combined with a variety of qualitative measures to monitor the experience of BAME staff at The Christie - none of these feedback mechanisms have suggested any evidence of systemic racism • We have developed our Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) action plan to address feedback from BAME colleagues about how they have been treated in

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